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Kris McDaniel (metaphysics), Professor of Philosophy at Syracuse University, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. That's a real loss for Syracuse, and will further enhance Notre Dame's already strong position in metaphysics.

Victor Caston (ancient philosophy, philosophy of mind), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, has a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Students considering either place with an interest in ancient philosophy will want to keep an eye on what happens.

UPDATE: Professor Caston has declined the Rutgers offer, and will remain at Michigan.

Professor Levi, a leading figure in decision theory and epistemology, was emeritus at Columbia University, where he had taught since 1970. He passed away on December 25. He earned his PhD at Columbia and taught at Case Western Reserve University, before returning to his alma mater. I will add links to memorial notices when they appear.

(Thanks to Charles Parsons for the information.)

UPDATE: A brief obituary at the NYT. (Thanks to David Rosenthal for the pointer.)

ANOTHER: A brief memorial notice from the Columbia Department, with a longer one promised in the January Journal of Philosophy.

I was quite sorry to learn, via Martin Kusch, of the passing of Professor Gutting, a longtime member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, where he was emeritus. He was, of course, best-known for his excellent work on Foucault, as well as on French philosophy of the 20th-century more generally, although his philosophical interests and publications ranged widely and across traditions. In addition, he founded and edited with great integrity and care Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, which has become the most important source for book reviews in academic philosophy. He had recently agreed to write the volume on Foucault for my Routledge Philosophers series, which was about to go under contract. You can find out a bit more about his work here. I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

UPDATE: An announcement has gone out to the editorial board of NDPR (of which I am a member) from Professor Gutting's widow, who has also been co-editor of NDPR in recent years:

I am sorry to be the bearer of sad news, but I need to let you know that late on Friday evening Gary passed away. The end came much faster than anyone had expected but was peaceful, and he was surrounded by his family.

There will be a memorial service at the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame, and I will forward further details as soon as they are available.

In the circumstances, I have decided to suspend publication of reviews for a minimum of one month.

I will post details of the memorial service when they are available.

ANOTHER: A remembrance by philosopher John Schwenkler (Florida State) at Commonweal.

AND MORE: A remembrance from the editor at the NYT who worked with him. (Thanks to Paul Weithman for the pointer.)

Shaun Nichols, a leading figure in moral psychology, philosophy of cognitive science, and experimental philosophy at the University of Arizona, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at Cornell University, where he will start this coming fall. That's a big catch for Cornell!

ADDENDUM: There's more about how the Bromberger family was saved by the remarkably courageous Aristides de Sousa Mendes, including remarks from Professor Bromberger, here. (Thanks to David Velleman for the pointer, who tells me that his father's story is also available at the same site. Prof. Velleman notes that his father's "'testimony' wasn't written for the De Sousa Mendes website. It was written for our children when they were young -- which explains some of the condescending parenthetical explanations.")

Professor Cowie, who worked at the intersections of philosophy of psychology, biology. and linguistics, had taught at the California Institute of Technology since 1992. The Cal Tech memorial notice is here.

A longtime member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Memphis, Professor Tienson was perhpas best-known for his work in philosophy of mind and cognitive science. There is a memorial notice from the Memphis department here.

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the College of William & Mary, Professor Becker also taught for many years at Hollins University, where he remained a Fellow at the time of his death. He wrote widely in moral, political and legal philosophy. You can learn more about his work here. I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Professor Fingarette's interests ranged widely, from Chinese philosophy to philosophy of action and moral responsibility. He was best-known to the public at large for his arguments against the "disease" model of alcoholism. The NYT obituary is here.

An expert in Chinese philosophy and phenomenology, Professor Shen was, at the time of his death, Professor of East Asian Studies and Philosophy at the University of Toronto. The Toronto memorial notice is here.

The Center for Philosophy of Science and HPS report with great sadness that our colleague Adolf Gruenbaum died on November 15, 2018. Further information to follow in the coming days.

Grunbaum,(1923-2018) was a leading philosopher of physics and he is also famous for his criticism of psychoanalysis. He was hired by Pitt from Lehigh in 1960 and built the philosophy department and HPS. He created the Center for Philosophy of Science.

Andy Clark (philosophy of mind and cognitive science), who currently holds the Chair of Logic & Metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh (where he has taught for the last fourteen years), will become Professor of Philosophy and Informatics at the University of Sussex, with an affiliation with the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, effective January 2019. That's a big catch for Sussex, which will likely propel the PhD program into the UK top 15. Edinburgh will likely drop out of the UK top five, but will probably remain in the UK top ten.

ADDENDUM: Nick Treanor, Head of Philosophy at Edinburgh, writes:

We’re disappointed to see Andy move, of course, but he is a great friend of the department and we’re happy for him and for Sussex.

It may interest some of your readers to know that Edinburgh expects to appoint 12 permanent faculty over the next three years, three or four at chair (full professor) level, the others open rank between lecturer/senior lecturer/reader (roughly assistant/associate/advanced associate professor). This will be across a range of areas. We are also hiring a head of school this year, a senior professorial level appointment. Tenured and tenure-track faculty are welcome to contact me in confidence if they would be interested in knowing more.

That many appointments, especially if (as one would expect) they are consistent with the department's current quality, may sustain Edinburgh's very high ranking in the UK.

Terence Irwin (ancient philosophy, ethics), emeritus at both Oxford and Cornell Universities, will be teaching two courses per quarter at Stanford for at least the next three years, starting with the Winter Quarter of 2018-19. Stanford already has one of the top programs for ancient philosophy in the U.S..

A longtime member of the MIT faculty, Professor Bromberger wrote widely in philosophy of linguistics and epistemology (more details here). There is a brief announcement from the MIT Facebook page here. I will add links to memorial notices when they appear.

UPDATE: Philosopher of science Brad Wray (Aarhus) writes:

I just saw on your site that Sylvain B. died. He was a wonderful person. I was at MIT for a term in 2015 for a sabbatical leave.

He was already very old – in his 90s. But he was still coming in for talks, and was involved in a reading group with Chomsky.

He had a very interesting life. The family escaped Belgium when the Nazis came in, and ended up in America via France (I believe with help from a Portuguese embassy worker). You can find the details of that on the web. But then he went and fought in the war. He returned to do a PhD at Harvard, on a topic inspired by Duhem. People were not reading Duhem in the USA – even Quine had to have Duhem drawn to his attention when he was presenting his own underdetermination paper.

Incidentally, Sylvain was the one who gave Hempel the shadow and the flag pole counter example (Hempel acknowledges this), but Sylvain said it was a tower in his own example.

Sylvain also brought Kuhn to MIT, when Kuhn was looking to leave Princeton.

Andreja Novakovic (19th-century European philosophy, esp. Hegel), Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Riverside, has accepted a tenured offer from the Department of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where she will start in July 2019.

A moral philosopher, perhaps best-known for her work on animal ethics, Professor Midgley spent most of her teaching career at Newcastle University. I will add links to memorial notices as they appear. (Thanks to several readers for sending along news of her passing.)

UPDATE: An obituary from The Guardian written by philosopher Jane Heal (Cambridge).

Below the fold, some comments from Ian Ground at Newcastle about Professor Midgley:

A longtime professor of philosophy at Texas A&M University, where he held the rank of Distinguished Professor and the Glasscock Chair in the Humanities, he was best-known for his work on classical American philosophy, including James and Dewey. I will add links to memorial notices when they appear.

This is a summary of changes at the tenured ranks at the top 50 PhD programs in the 2017 Philosophical Gourmet Report; more precisely, these are changes that were not reflected in the faculty lists evaluators saw for the 2017 PGR surveys (some moves that weren't official until 2018 were reflected in the faculty lists).

Rutgers University, New Brunswick (#2 in 2017 PGR): hired Karen Bennett (metaphysics) from Cornell and Brian Leftow (philosophy of religion, medieval philosophy) from Oxford University. Rutgers was already tops in metaphysics, and will now be close to tops in philosophy of religion as well. Because these appointments play to strengths, they will not do much to close the gap with #1 NYU, which is still broader in its coverage of philosophy, especially history of philosophy, including the post-Kantian Continental traditions.

Princeton University (#3 in 2017 PGR): hired Andrew Chignell (Kant, philosophy of religion) (primary appointments in Religion and Center for Human Values) from the University of Pennsylvania; will definitely boost Princeton's specialty ranking in Kant and maybe also philosophy of religion.

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (#4 in 2017 PGR): lost Maria Lasonen-Aarnio (epistemology) to Helsinki.

Columbia University (#9 in 2017 PGR): hired Jenann Ismael (philosophy of science and physics, metaphysics, philosophy of mind) from the University of Arizona; likely to push Columbia into a tie with MIT and USC at #7.

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (#14 in 2017 PGR): lost L.A. (Laurie) Paul (metaphysics, philosophy of cognitive science, formal epistemology) to Yale; Thomas E. Hill, Jr. (ethics, Kant), who had been on phased retirement, has now officially reteired. Hired Sarah Stroud (ethics) from McGill University, who will also direct the Parr Center for Ethics. UNC is likely to slip a bit in the overall rankings, though will surely remain in the top 20.

A longtime member of the philosophy faculties at Lehman College and the City University of New York Graduate Center, Professor Baumrin was a well-known contributor to medical ethics and philosophy of law. There is a brief memorial notice here.

Michael Caie (philosophical logic, philosophy of language, formal epistemology) and Jessica Gelber (ancient Greek and Roman philosophy), both at the University of Pittsburgh, have accepted tenure-stream offers from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto effective this fall: Caie as Associate Professor with tenure, Gelber as Assistant Professor.

Kourken Michaelian (epistemology, philosophy of mind and psychology), Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Otago, has accepted appointment as Professor of Philosophy at the Université Grenoble Alpes, where he will also lead a new Centre for Philosophy of Memory.

Emeritus at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he had taught since 1971, Professor Coburn also taught philosophy for eleven years at the University of Chicago. He worked on a variety of topics in metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of religion over his long career. I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

Mariam Thalos (philosophy of science), formerly Professor at the University of Utah, is now Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and the new Head of Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, effective this month.

John Hyman (philosophy of mind and action, metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics, Wittgenstein), Professor of Aesthetics at Oxford University, will take up the Grote Professorship at University College London, effective this September.

Morrison, who teaches at Barnard and in the Columbia graduate program, works in early modern philosophy and philosophy of mind. Prospective PhD students considering these schools will want to inquire about the status of this recruitment effort.

UPDATE: Prof. Morrison has declined the offers and will remain at Barnard/Columbia.

Jada Twedt Strabbing (ethics, philosophy of religion), Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, has accepted a tenured offer as Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wayne State University.

The philosopher Ann Cudd (political philosophy, philosophy of economics, decision theory), Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, as well as Professor of Philosophy at Boston University, has accepted appointment as Provost of the University of Pittsburgh, where she also earned her PhD in philosophy!

Charlie Kurth (ethics, metaethics, moral psychology), Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Washington University, St. Louis, has accepted appointment as Associate Professor of Philosophy at Western Michigan University, which has long had a notable terminal MA program--and this appointment is certainly a big catch for them.

A pioneer in feminist philosophy, Professor Pearsall was emerita in philosophy at the University of Puget Sound. I first encountered her work in Feminist Interpretations of Nietzsche (1998), a volume she co-edited and contributed to. On an even more personal note, I should mention that her survivors include her wonderful grandson Teddy (my favorite ten-year-old in the world, as it happens) and her daughter, Sarah Pearsall, the distinguished historian at Cambridge University, to both of whom I send sincere condolences.

Professor Cavell, a longtime member of the Harvard faculty, wrote widely on Wittgenstein, philosophy of language, aesthetics, philosophy of film, and various figures in 19th- and 20th-century American and German philosophy. I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

Laurie (L.A.) Paul (metaphysics, philosophy of cognitive science, formal epistemology), currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will join the Philosophy Department and Cognitive Science Program at Yale University, effective this fall. That's a big loss for Chapel Hill, and a catch for Yale!

The Philosophy Department at Northern Illinois University asked me to share this announcement: "It is with sadness that we announce that our former colleague C. Michael Gelven passed away on June 1. Professor Gelven (1937-2018) taught at NIU for 46 years, inspiring generations of students. The author of a dozen books, he served as Distinguished Research Professor from 1997 until his retirement in 2011."

The Israeli philosopher, who taught for many years at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (as well as the New School in New York), has passed away. He was best-known for his work on Kant, Spinoza, and Nietzsche. I will add links to memorial notices when they appear.

UPDATE: An obituary from Haaretz (behind a paywall, though you can get six free articles if you sign up). (Thanks to Nir Ben-Moshe for the pointer.)

Tuomas Tahko (metaphysics & epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophical logic), University Lecturer in Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Helsinki, will take up the position of Reader in Metaphysics of Science at the University of Bristol, effective September 2018. Professor Tahko adds "that the 2-million euro European Research Council Consolidator Grant that I won in 2017, enabling a project on the Metaphysical Unity of Science, will move to Bristol. The project will last for five years, also starting in September 2018, and will hire three 4-year postdocs and a PhD student in the areas of metaphysics and philosophy of science."

Karen Bennett (metaphysics, philosophy of mind), Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, where she will begin this fall.

Luvell Anderson (philosophy of race, philosophy of language, aesthetics), currently Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Memphis, will join the Department of Philosophy at Syracuse University, effective this fall.

Nandi Theunissen (ethics, metaethics), Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, has accepted a tenured offer as Associate Professor of Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh.

Toby Meadows (mathematical logic, philosophy of mathematics), currently Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Queensland, has accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Irvine.

Marcy Lascano (early modern philosophy) and Jason Raibley (ethics), who are currently Professor and Associate Professor, respectively, of Philosophy at California State University, Long Beach, have accepted senior offers from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Kansas. Professor Dorsey, the Kansas Chair, points out that these are the third and fourth tenured hires for the Department since 2017 (the others were Ben Caplan, from a tenured position at Ohio State University, and Brad Cokelet, from a tenure-track position at the University of Miami).

Jo Wolff (metaphysics, philosophy of science and physics), Lecturer in Philosophy at King's College, London, has accepted appointment as Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, starting in 2019.

Matthew Ratcliffe (philosophy of mind, psychology, and the emotions), currently Professor of Philosophy and Head of Department at the University of Vienna, will take up a Professorship in Philosophy at the University of York, effective this fall.

Helen Yetter Chappell (philosophy of mind, metaphysics) and Richard Yetter Chappell (ethics, metaethics), both Lecturers in Philosophy at the University of York, have accepted tenure-track offers from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Miami, to start this fall.

Jenann Ismael (philosophy of science and physics, metaphysics, philosophy of mind), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at Columbia University, starting this July. That's a big catch for Columbia!

The Department of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews has announced two senior hires: Francesco Berto (logic, philosophy of logic, metaphysics) will join St Andrews in the summer of 2018 from the University of Amsterdam; while Imogen Dickie (philosophy of language, mind and action; epistemology) will join St Andrews in summer 2019 from the University of Toronto. The St Andrews/Stirling joint program ranked 3rd in the U.K. in the most recent PGR surveys, before these hires with a score of 3.4, trailing Cambridge at 3.6. It's possible these new senior appointments would push the program into a tie at 2nd with Cambridge.

The distinguished Marxist historian and social theorist, whose work is of great significance for philosophers interested in Marx as well, has died. I will add links to other memorial notices as they appear.

Timothy O'Connor, a leading defender of libertarianism about free will, has decided to return to the Department of Philosophy at Indiana University, Bloomington, after a year at Baylor University. Note that Prof. O'Connor was not on the Indiana faculty list for the 2017-18 PGR.

Samantha Matherne (Kant, NeoKantianism, phenomenology, aesthetics), currently Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of California at Santa Cruz has accepted a tenure-track offer from Harvard University, starting this fall; she took her PhD in philosophy from UC Riverside. (Prof. Matherne is also writing the book on Cassirer in my Routledge Philosophers series.)